


With or Without You

by dorasaurous



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-06 13:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17346338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorasaurous/pseuds/dorasaurous
Summary: AU: Chancellor Palpatine has jumped the gun on Order 66. Anakin and Padme manage to escape to a planet far far away, along with half the Jedi council and any senators still left alive! Will their relationship be able to withstand this new adventure? More importantly, will they be able to survive the clone troopers and Separatist armies constantly on their tale?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have not watched any of the Star Wars prequels since 2014. I don't remember any details, and I'm getting all of my information off of wookiepedia. Enjoy.

Padme woke up, confused. She couldn’t remember where she was at first, even though she was in her own bed, in her own penthouse apartment. The confusion stemmed from the person in bed beside her, and she rolled over to look at him. Anakin was sitting up, his feet hanging over the edge of the bed, and was hunched over what she guessed was his communicator. The bedside lamp he’d turned on, as well as the quiet chatter coming from his comm is what had woken her. 

She glanced at the clock across the room- it was nearly a quarter past two in the morning. Anakin had quite unexpectedly come home today, or rather yesterday. He had been dispatched to a planet on the outer rim, which Padme learned in the one transmission they’d been able to exchange, bitterly reminded him of his childhood home. Neither one of them knew when he would be back, so when she came home that evening expecting an empty apartment but instead finding her favorite meal prepared by her favorite Jedi… she’d been more than happy. 

Padme sat up and shifted until she was draped across Anakin’s shoulders, his bare skin warm against hers. He didn’t look up, still concentrating on the comm in his hands. Now that she was more awake, she was able to make out some of the garbled transmissions. Something about an evacuation… shots fired… 

“Baby, what’s wrong?” she mumbled. He turned his head to look at her, and the look in his eyes started an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Anakin?” 

He stood up and tossed his comm onto the nightstand. “Padme, I need you to get dressed. Get dressed and get packed. Only essentials, maybe some keepsakes.” He bent down, picked up his shirt he’d discarded earlier from the floor, and put it on. She scrambled out of bed and began searching her drawers for traveling clothes. There was something in his voice, something in his  _ eyes _ , that she could not question. 

By now Anakin had completely dressed, and had taken some luggage from the closet. He threw them open on the bed and began piling in folded clothing from his drawers. Padme, though busy with her own packing, was faintly glad he didn’t keep anything in his room at the temple. She’d seen it, once. It was gray, empty, barren. She didn’t like to think about it. 

They both ran back and forth across the bedroom in silence for ten minutes, when there came a knocking on the front door. They glanced at each other, and anakin left to answer it. Padme had finished packing her clothes and was grabbing various things from around the room- photographs, gifts from Anakin, memories of previous years, when the door to the bedroom opened again. She turned, and coming through the doorway was Anakin, closely followed by Obi-Wan. She stopped in her tracks, an old book clutched to her chest. Obi-Wan nodded at her grimly, and grabbed two of the suitcases lying on the bed. Anakin came up to her and gently took the book out of her clenched hands. He looked over his shoulder to make sure Obi-Wan had left the room before whispering to her:

“Look, I know this is scary, and weird, and Obi-Wan isn’t supposed to be here, but something big happened tonight. I can explain more later, but right now we need to concentrate on getting out of here. Is there anything else you need from the apartment? I can grab it, we just have to leave now.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she gestured helplessly. 

“I don’t know what we need, you’re making it sound like we can’t come back.” He looked somberly at her, and her breathing hitched. His face dropped, and he crushed her to himself. They stood like that for a few seconds before Obi-Wan cleared his throat from the doorway. They broke apart, but Anakin still kept his arm around Padme’s shoulders, and the pressure reassured her. 

“I’m sorry Padme,” Obi-Wan said, “but the others are waiting.”

Padme blinked slowly, before moving back to the bed and placing the book in the remaining suitcase. She didn’t close it, and as she moved through the rest of the apartment towards the front door, grabbed different items off of various shelves. The trio reached the door, and as she paused to zip the bag and Anakin snatched her coat from the rack, a crash came from the bedroom. Padme froze, but the Jedi swung into action. Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and yelled  _ move! _ Anakin threw her over his shoulder and barreled out the door and down the hallway. They made it to the emergency exit when an explosion rocked the building. Flames leapt out of the open door into the hallway, and Padme could see a figure she hoped was Obi-Wan emerging from them before the emergency exit door slammed shut behind her. Anakin gently put her down on the fire escape, and as her feet touched the cold metal grate she realised that in the confusion she had forgotten to put on shoes. She shivered in the wind, and Anakin helped her into her coat. 

“Obi-Wan parked his speeder down there,” he shouted over the wind. “He’s going to take us to the space station. Did you see him in the hallway?”

“I think so,” she yelled back. “Where are we going to from the station? Off-world?” 

“I don’t know,” he bawled. “I don’t know who we’re meeting there, either.” He grabbed the last bag and began to move towards Obi-Wan’s yellow speeder. Padme winced as she followed him, the fire escape biting into her feet. When they made it to the speeder, Anakin threw the suitcase into the open trunk, where it nestled beside the other two. Over the wind they heard the emergency exit open again, and both turned to see Obi-Wan, looking slightly singed, stepping onto the rail. 

Anakin swung open the speeder door and Padme stepped over the couple thousand-foot drop between the speeder and the rail, and awkwardly clambered over the driver’s seat until she was pressed against the window on the other side. She felt the trunk slam shut, and Anakin climbed in after her. Obi-Wan climbed in last, and slammed the door. They breathed a sigh of relief before a blaster shot shook the speeder. Obi-Wan started the speeder, and they were hit twice more before they pulled away from the building. 

“I thought I finished all of those damn things,” he muttered under his breath.

Padme could see in the rearview mirror the smouldering remains of her apartment, and she bit her lip to keep herself from crying out. It felt silly to cry about the apartment itself- she had never had a real attachment to it until Anakin had come to live with her shortly before they’d been married. She swallowed her anguish, and turned, as much as she could in the cramped quarters, to Anakin. 

“Anakin, you said you’d explain what’s happening. Who are we meeting? Who was trying to kill us?”

Obi-Wan interjected before Anakin could speak:

“We’re meeting what’s left of the Jedi order, along with several members of the senate and their families. Bail Organa, Bresean Poystenn, to name a few. We don’t know where we’re going, but we need to get off world as quickly as possible.”

“No one’s really sure what’s happening, either. As far as we can tell, clone troopers have been turning on members of the republic; Jedi, senators, even civilians. There were a few reports of troopers suddenly siding with separatist droids. This all started about two hours ago. They’ve been targeting leaders, senators like yourself that have been outspoken in ending the war. We don’t know how the troopers have been compromised, and we don’t know who is behind this. Chancellor Palpatine has been reported missing, and his home destroyed. We need to get as far away from any planet with republic or separatist influence, something in the outer rim, to regroup and figure out what’s next.”

Padme felt sick. She stared ahead into the nighttime, illuminated by other speeder’s headlights. She swallowed before asking her next question:

“Do you know if Ashoka is okay? Have you heard from her?” She turned again, but Anakin was staring straight ahead, his face hard. 

“The last I heard she was heading to a mission on Naboo, actually, to investigate the concerns you had about Separatist smugglers. I haven’t heard from her tonight, but I know she was there with a small platoon of troopers.” They rode in silence for a minute.

“We’re here,” Obi-Wan said. He began to steer the speeder down to a remote landing pad. A spaceship was waiting there, engines on and ready to fly. “I hope it goes without saying that I will keep the particular details of your relationship to myself.”

“Thank you,” Padme murmured automatically. She took Anakin’s hand, and squeezed it. 

“Though it will be difficult to explain to Master Windu why exactly Anakin was found in you apartment, rather than his room at the temple,” Obi-Wan said as he touched down. Anakin snorted as they climbed out of the speeder. Padme ran to the trunk and hauled one of the suitcases out. The Jedi followed suit, and after a shared glance and a sigh, the trio began to climb the ramp up into the spaceship. 


	2. Chapter 2

Before they could reach the top, a blast fired behind them and hit the speeder below. It exploded, and Obi-Wan winced. As gravel splattered the ramp, they turned in unison to see a spaceship swooping towards them. It fired again, and the three turned to run into the open door of the ship, the ramp retracting behind them. The fighter rocketed past them, barely missing the ship as the three collapsed against the wall of the airlock. The doors slammed shut behind them, and Padme rolled over from her place on the floor to see Bail Organa standing over them. She guessed he had closed the door and retracted the ramp.

The enemy fighter’s shots rocked the ship, and a second later she could hear the engines roaring as they began takeoff. They all waited a minute for more shots, but the troopers seemed to have either lost interest or been ordered to cease pursuit. Anakin staggered to his feet and offered a hand to her, she grasped it and hauled herself to her feet, flashing a small smile at him.

“It’s a good thing you all showed up when you did,” Bail said. “We almost left without you.”

“That’s cold, Senator,” Padme said with a grin, and the two moved together for a brief hug. When they broke apart she asked “Are you okay? Is your family safe?”

“Yes, thank the stars. My wife was able to hide herself and her parents when the troopers stationed on Alderaan came looking for her. They sent me a short transmission from a small town far away from the capital. I hoped we would be able to retrieve them, but Master Windu has told me this may not be possible.” Bail looked pointedly at Anakin and Obi-Wan.

“We’re currently not sure what is and isn’t possible, Senator,” Obi-Wan said. “We don’t even have a final destination. A small town on Alderaan might be sufficient to hide a handful of people, but we need a place far away from this star system.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, actually,” Anakin interjected. He looked at Padme. “Pad-Senator, didn't you tell me recently about a villa you own on Nannerth?”

He was of course talking of their favorite vacation spot- it was a planet with a similar climate to Naboo, but since it was on the outer rim, they were able to move about in public without fear of discovery. They had first gone there on their one year anniversary, and Padme had bought a large, remote property on the outskirts of a village named Fularis.

“Oh, you’re right. I think I have the coordinates written down on my handheld. Obi-Wan, it’s a fairly large piece of land. The living quarters can host seventy people under ordinary circumstances, but we can make accommodations.”

“Thank you, Padme,” he replied. “I will of course have to discuss it with the other members of the council, but between us four it seems like the best option.”

“Oh, the council. They have been bickering like children since we boarded this ship,” Bail moaned. “No offence meant, gentlemen.”

“None taken,” Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. He grabbed two of the suitcases from the floor. “Padme, I am going to bring these to the hanger with the other’s luggage. I must say, you pack lighter than most of our senatorial friends.” He cast a glance at Bail.

“Oh, you’d pack more too if the council allowed you to own more than three cloaks and a pair of boots,” he retorted goodnaturedly, and the two exited the airlock, snipping at each other. When the doors had closed, Anakin turned and enveloped Padme in his arms.

“Are you okay?” He murmured. “I’m sorry I put you on the spot after that chase.” Padme collapsed against him and closed her eyes.

“No, it’s okay. I’m just. Overwhelmed.” She pulled back and turned up her face to look into his eyes. “I can’t believe our apartment is gone.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes again, and rested her head on his chest. They stood in silence for a minute, before Anakin took a deep breath and broke apart. He looked down.

“Oh, your shoes. Are your feet cold?”

She laughed.

“I actually forgot. I’m okay. I can find some shoes on this ship, I’m sure.”

“ Okay. Come on, let’s face the council. I’ll grab the last bag.”

They stepped through the doors and into the hallway of the ship. When they landed earlier, Padme had been unable to see in the darkness what kind of spaceship the shreds of democracy had been able to hijack. She saw now, as they walked past a door labeled “Viewing Deck”, several expensive looking maintenance droids, and an open bar that had only one person sitting at it, someone she didn’t recognize as a Jedi or a senator, that they were on a cruise ship. They passed a room that was just shutting, and Obi-Wan and Bail stepped out.

“That’s the luggage room,” Bail said. “Padme, let me walk you to the navigation deck. It is extremely tiny, and, annoyingly, where _they_ have decided to congregate.” He offered his arm cheerfully, and Padme took it, shooting a backwards glance at Anakin. He had placed the suitcase on the ground, and was having a quiet conversation with Obi-Wan. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but there was a dark look on her husband’s face. She turned to face the hallway before her again, and concentrated on the pit that was beginning to form in her stomach.

Padme hated the Jedi Order. She would never say anything about this hatred to Anakin- the Order had saved him from his life on Tatooine. It had brought the two together, in a sort of twisted way. But she hated the it just the same, and had come close many times to telling him so. She had witnessed the different ways they had tried to manipulate her husband. Taking him away from his mother, leaving her to die in slavery. Forcing their way into the war, until suddenly the Republic was dependant upon the Jedi to control their clone army. _Fat lot of good that did_ , she thought.

The Jedi council spent their time building Anakin up with all their talk of the chosen one, and yet at the same time punishing him for trying to become something great. They had baited and switched him more times than she could count, offering him promotions and higher ranks and even a place on the council itself, before yanking it away. They offered enough comfort and support that Anakin couldn’t bring himself to leave, and thus sealed her fate as a secret, a forbidden object, a _temptation._ She hated it. She had begged him to leave, they’d had fights that always threatened to bring her true feelings of the order to the surface, that threatened their relationship, but he never had the nerve to leave, and neither did she. They always remained in the shadows, in off-world bars, and among strangers who could never know their real identities.

Padme was jerked from her thoughts when Bail stopped shortly in front of a door that read “Navigation”. He’d paused to enter a long code on a keypad next to the door.

“When we ‘acquired’ this ship,” he said without looking up from the pad, “we had to drag the codes for everything out of the only living member of the crew. That is, the only non-robotic one. I believe you saw them at the bar. That was the captain of this wondrous cruise ship.” He finished keying in the code and looked up. A green light flashed, and he glanced behind them at the two Jedi who were not too far behind. “This doesn’t stay unlocked for very long, and Obi-Wan doesn’t know the codes. Remind me to lend you a copy of the master sheet, it’s very helpful for doing anything on this ship.”

The door opened, and the two senators stepped inside. The Jedi slipped in just before it slid shut again, and Padme and Anakin glanced around at their new surroundings. The navigation room was not very large, and this was emphasised by the number of people that had been crammed in. all of the spaces along the walls were filled, and at the center of the room was a cluster of chairs that had been dragged and arranged to form a semicircle. Everyone had their gaze fixed on the large windshield at the front of the room, in front of which was a control panel where the navigator and pilot sat. The windshield offered a view of a Coruscant that was growing rapidly smaller, and a night sky that was quickly turning into black space.

Bail led the group towards the clumsy semicircle of chairs in the center of the room, where they were greeted by the sight of a bedraggled group of Jedi Knights. Bail stopped respectfully just outside of the circle, keeping Padme, still on his arm, with him. Obi-Wan and Anakin stepped into the circle, and bowed to the chair at the top of the circle.

Master Yoda bowed his head in return, and cleared his throat to speak:

“Good to see you, it is. Worried, we were.”

“Thank you, Master Yoda,” Obi-Wan replied.

“Master Yoda, have you heard from Ashoka?” Anakin asked. Padme’s stomach tightened. She knew how much Anakin cared for his padawan, and she cared for Ashoka as well. The three had spent several evenings together for dinner, Padme pretending to invite the both of them, rather than her and Anakin inviting Ashoka. Though there were some days that she was sure the young woman knew their secret, even approved of it. She shook her head, and focused again on Yoda’s slow speech.

“...we have not. Worry not, young one. Strong and clever, your padawan is.”

“Our current focus now should be what next. Where to go, how to regroup,” Master Windu interjected. He was sitting to the left of Master Yoda, and looked like Obi-Wan, like he had survived an explosion. Padme shuddered, remembering Obi-Wan’s words in the speeder. If anyone was to suspect Anakin’s whereabouts that night, it was Mace Windu.

“We actually have some good news on that front,” Obi-Wan said. A ripple of interest went through the surrounding crowd. “Senator Amidala,” here he turned to look at her, “has graciously offered us the use of an estate on a planet in the outer-rim.” Padme nodded, and stepped forward.

“The house itself has accomodations for twenty people,” she said, “but it has a working farm, and the employees aren’t loyal to anyone, separatist or otherwise. The closest town is a day’s journey by carriage, which is the fastest way to travel on this planet. It has strict laws against pollution, meaning civilian aircraft are illegal.”

“Is there anyone else who knows about this property?” Windu asked, leaning forward in his seat. “Anyone who could be compromised by troopers or separatists?”

Padme could see Anakin glance at her out of the corner of her eye. “No one outside of this room. I bought it as a get-away, somewhere isolated where the outside world couldn’t reach me.” Windu raised an eyebrow and her face went hot.

“Generous, the senator is,” Yoda said.

“Not only that, but she seems to be presenting our best and only option,” Windu said quietly. Yoda nodded his head in agreement.

“I’ll give the coordinates to the navigator, then.” She turned, and as she walked away Obi-Wan spoke:

“There is, of course, the matter of contacting the other members of the republic that are still unharmed by the clone army. Can we consider at this point alerting them of this safe haven?”

“It seems to me that first the obstacle of obtaining a transmitter must be overcome- from Senator Amidala’s description there seems to be very primitive technology on this planet…” an unknown voice trailed off as Padme pushed farther through the crowd. She reached the pilot and navigator and spoke quietly for a moment, reaching into the pocket of her jacket to retrieve her phone. After she had given the coordinates of the planet to them, she made her way to the edge of the room, where the crowds were sparser, and along the wall began to walk towards the door. This was a cruise ship. There had to be bedrooms somewhere.

She was suddenly exhausted, the weight of the past few hours finally resting itself upon her shoulders. Her feet dragged a little, and she almost tripped. She shook her head and pushed the button to open the door. It was only after she was outside and the door had shut did she remember what Bail had said about the codes. She groaned. Maybe she could find the captain of the ship… she remembered seeing them drinking at a bar…

The door opened behind her, and she turned to see Anakin standing in the doorway.

“Hey,” he said, a small smile on his face.

“Hey,” she said, not returning it.

“I saw you leaving, and I figured you were looking for somewhere to crash.”

“Yeah.” She started off walking, and he quickly fell in step with her.

“Lucky for you, I happen to have swiped a sheet of room codes off of a certain Senator Organa.”

“Good, I’m tired.” They walked in silence for a few minutes, looking at each door for any sign of a bedroom.

“I can’t believe you weren’t more vocal in that meeting. You walked off right when they were getting to the big decisions.”

“It’s not like what I had to say would have made a difference.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He stopped, and Padme walked for a few paces before sighing and turning to face him.

“Did you see what I saw in that room?” She asked. He was silent. “I saw what has happened since this war started. The Jedi council making decisions for the greater population. The greater population, hanging on to every word. Even if they listened to what I had to say, they would have elected to ignore it.”

“If we make decisions for the greater population, it’s always with their best interests in mind.”

“What’s this ‘we’?” She asked. He fell silent. “Anakin, when was the last time they asked for your opinion? On anything? I’m not talking about your work as a general in their army, I mean in council meetings. Meetings with senators, the Chancellor. I’ve been in those meetings with you, they stifle your opinions, your point of view, and I know it kills you. That measure we tried to introduce last year to work with the Jedi to stamp out human trafficking? I didn’t even write most of it. You knew exactly how much resources the Jedi Order could spare for this effort, how to work around restrictions set up by the war. It was cleared on my end, but when you brought it up to the Jedi Council they wouldn’t even consider it, but the next day they promoted you to general. You were heartbroken, but couldn’t even mourn before they shipped you off to some distant planet. Can’t you see how they’re manipulating you?” Her voice broke, and she blinked tears out of her eyes.

“So you think the Jedi are to blame for this new catastrophe? We need to take responsibility for the clone army?”

Padme pressed her hands to her eyes. “Anakin, I don’t want to get into this right now…”

“No, I want you to explain yourself. How is this the Jedi’s fault?”

“Fine. Fine!” She snapped, and whipped her hands away from her face. “Do you remember Geonosis? Being captured, sentenced to death in an arena? And who came to save us but the Jedi Order, heralded by a clone army. Anakin, the people of Kamino claimed the Republic ordered the manufacture of the army, but I _am_ the Republic. I was never in any meeting concerning that Order. I have asked countless men and women whom I trust and respect, and neither were they. I scanned endless transcripts dating to ten years prior to any whispers of the Separatists, even the Trade Federation. Nothing. No decision, no orders.” Padme paused, and swallowed. She could see on Anakin’s face the anger she had broached in arguments passed, but he had goaded her, and she was sick to death of keeping silent about this.

“The clone army was not the result of a decision of the Galactic Republic. So, alright, let’s not jump to conclusions. Let’s not immediately blame the group of individuals who adapted to working with the clone army. Let’s not blame the ones who learned to control and tame the clones, who deign to share that control with Republic fighters.” She let out a cold laugh. “Let’s not blame the organization that _found_ this clone army, who were arrogant enough to think they could utilize a technology no one knows anything about. Who made any effort in defeating the Separatists reliant on an _army_ of _clones._ An army, Anakin, who knows the location of every secret base the Republic has, who knows the name and location of every man, woman, and otherwise in power.”

“Are you implying,” Anakin said, stoney-faced, “That the Jedi council ordered this attack on Republic forces? On senators? On our own _Jedi_?”

“Of course not,” she snapped. “I am _implying_ that the Jedi have made themselves invaluable to our effort against the Separatists, putting themselves in a position of power with a force over which they have lost control.”

“Padme, the Jedi Order has always been against this war, any war. We pushed against this. How they treat me is neither here nor there, but this kind of thinking is ridiculous.”

“Is it?” She almost yelled. “Is it so ridiculous? Anakin, there are Jedi present in every single mission concerning the war. The Chancellor Palpatine won’t even breathe without consulting the council. Right now, there are almost two hundred people in that room,” she pointed wildly, “hanging desperately onto every word that comes out of their mouths. The council has for so long presented itself as a source of strength and hope for the Republic, but Anakin, they fucked up!”

“They fucked. Up.” He said quietly. Padme took a deep breath.

“They lost control. Something happened to the clones, something that maybe wasn’t the Jedi’s fault, but now that everything’s gone to shit, they still have power over what’s left of the Republic. I _don’t_ _think_ this was their intention. I don’t believe that they would order an attack that left us so devastated, and I don’t believe that they want to be the ones to answer our questions, to make pick up the pieces. But the fact still remains that the Jedi made themselves and their clone army essential to the survival rest of the galaxy, and now the Jedi is all we have left.”

“What the hell are you doing here, then?” He said roughly, and the words cut through her. What the hell was she _doing_ here? In a split second, she wanted to cry, wanted to scream. But instead, a rage that had been building inside her, really since they had left her apartment in ruins a few hours ago, calmed her enough to speak:

“Trust me, had I known what was happening, I would not have gotten on this spaceship.”

“I wish you hadn’t,” he spat, and whirled around to stalk back to the navigation room. She stood motionless for a minute before turning and stamping in the opposite direction. The white hot anger was still with her, and she stumbled blindy deeper into the ship. It wasn’t until she had walked by the third themed bar that Padme had calmed down enough to remember she didn’t have any codes to open doors to a bedroom she might find. She groaned, and suddenly the weight of the past few hours settled into her bones. She stopped walking and slumped against the wall.

Tears threatened again, but this time she didn’t hold back. She hid her face in her hands and cried, great wracking sobs that only lasted for a minute because a hand clapped her on the shoulder. She gasped, and jerked away, swiping her eyes to get a glimpse of whoever had snuck up on her.

“Oh, Bail, hi,” she said in a shaky voice. “I didn’t expect anyone to be down here.”

“I saw you leaving the meeting earlier and wanted to make sure you were doing okay. I heard through the grapevine that your apartment was destroyed- I’m sorry.” She nodded, and broke into a fresh bout of tears. He offered a handkerchief and looked uncomfortably around the corridor while she cried.

“Do you want to get some sleep?” He asked when she’d subsided. “I know where there’s a nice plush…” he waved his sheet invitingly. She sniffed, and nodded again.

“Not that I want to be _in_ that suite with you, Padme,” he said as they started off walking. “You know I’m married. I can’t believe you would suggest such a thing.” She let out a small laugh, and Bail put an arm around her shoulders, smiling.

After he had dropped Padme off at the suite, a copy of his sheet tucked safely in her pocket, and promises made to meet him for breakfast the next morning, she practically fell into the lush bed at the center of the room. Her mind only had time to guess that is was probably now around seven or eight in the morning on Coruscant before she passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

Padme woke up, confused. She couldn’t remember where she was at first, but all she knew was she wasn’t in her own apartment. She sat up, swept the hair out of her face, and looked around groggily. The room she was in,  _ a suite _ , she remembered,  _ I’m on a cruise ship, _ was dark, but she could still make out a dresser on one side of the room and a desk with a built-in computer, both next to a closed door she guessed was the bathroom. On the other side of the room was a doorway which lead to a small sitting room. She rolled her eyes as she heaved herself out of the cushiony bed- how much entertaining do you expect to do on a cruise ship? 

She padded across the room and opened the closed door- it  _ was _ a bathroom. Padme used the toilet and after washing her hands splashed water on her face. She wished she had a change of clothes, but her bags were still in the luggage room, and the only clothing the suite had to offer was an extraordinary fluffy bathrobe hanging on the inside of the door. She groaned, and went back into the bedroom, flicking on a lightswitch. She sat on the bed and puffed out her cheeks. Fragments of the argument last night kept coming back to her, and she squeezed her eyes shut against them.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t thought any of those things before. There was just no way the Jedi’s rise to power was an accident, or a simple byproduct of the war. There was also no way Anakin could have been completely blind to that rise, and that’s part of the reason she was so angry last night. She almost wished she hadn’t said anything at all, then she wouldn’t be waking up in a strange bed by herself. She wouldn’t have to face the Council by herself, wouldn’t have to prepare her house for two hundred  _ (two hundred!  _ Padme thought) people by herself. 

“But I said it.” She said aloud to the empty room. Almost on queue there was a knock on the door. She started, and slowly got up and opened the door to reveal Obi-Wan. 

“Good afternoon,” he said. 

“Is it?” she asked dumbly. 

“Yes. The Council decided it would be best to let everyone sleep before calling a meeting. Incidentally, I am here to take you to said meeting.”

“Can you give me a minute?”

He nodded and took a step back as she pressed the close door button. Padme quickly ran to the bathroom and searched the drawers for a ponytail holder. She bundled her bushy hair into a neat bun, and took a brief look at herself in the mirror. She looked slightly bedraggled, but she doubted she’d stand out. She looked down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes, sighing. There was a pair of slippers in her suite to match the bathrobe, but she ultimately decided to go without. She went back outside her room, checked her pockets for the sheet of door codes, and then the two started off down the hallway. 

“Master Obi-Wan, who else will be at this meeting?” 

“I’m not sure,” he said. “Members of the Jedi Council, of course. I don’t know exactly how many of senators have been invited…” The phrasing of the last sentence set off an internal alarm. 

“Do you know how close we are to Nannerth?”

“Again, I’m not sure. Shortly after you left, the crew ejected us from their room. We’re gathered now in a buffet room. Just a warning, someone managed to turn on some insufferable music and we’re unable to turn it back off.” He said this just as they arrived at a set of glass double doors. He paused to type in the code, and inside Padme could see almost all of the round tables had been filled with the refugee passengers. She could hear a faint thumping of music that immediately became louder when the door opened.

They entered the room together and the people sitting at the tables closest to the doors turned to look at them. The music was almost deafening on the other side of the doors, and Padme yelled to be heard:

“Why don’t we move to a different room?”

“What? Oh. This is the only room big enough for the entire group, and they all want to be here when an announcement is made.” Obi-Wan had to bend down to shout in her ear. “Come on, the Council is waiting in the kitchen.”

They made their way to the back of the room. The walls were decorated in banners and streamers, and on every table was a bright centerpiece. A few haggard looking waitstaff were leaning against a back wall. They were wearing uniforms that were so bright they almost blinded the eye. That, along with the endlessly cheerful and deafening music, was in sharp juxtaposition to the individuals who filled the tables. Weary eyes and tired faces turned to look at Padme and Obi-Wan as they walked by. She did her best to keep a placid smile on her face, waving to a few people she knew from work. Each senator she saw sitting helplessly at a table sent a wave of anger through her. Evidently, the Jedi thought their collective fates too important to be decided by the remains of the Republic. 

They finally made it to the kitchen, and as Obi-Wan closed the door, muting the music, Padme scanned the room. There was a low murmur that carried over the thumping music in the next room. The room was crowded, people leaning against stoves and counters. She estimated that there were upwards of twenty bodies in there of various sizes, the smallest of course being Yoda. Like the previous day, he was seated at the center of the room, and almost every pair of eyes were trained on him.

Across the room, Padme spotted Anakin. He was leaning against a sink, staring at her, his arms folded in front of him. He looked like he hadn’t slept. Obi-Wan left Padme standing by herself and slipped through the crowded kitchen to stand at his side. Anakin broke his intense scowl to have a quiet conversation with him. Padme swallowed, and looked again for any sign of the Republic. She spied Bail and Bresean Poystenn standing in a corner, but they were the only ones present. 

She supposed it was a good thing the Jedi had picked Bail, or maybe he had charmed his way into the room. Bail presented himself as a dullard, making his way through the world on looks and charisma alone. But he was a sharp debater, and a fierce advocate for the end of the war. Either the Jedi didn’t know this, or they underestimated him. She was glad he was there, at any rate. The two had been friends for ages, and she was sure he knew about her marriage. 

Bresean was more of a dissapointment, but not a surprising one. The man had forged his career by being a strong defender of the Jedi, the clone army, and their presence in the war. He was infatuated by the Jedi Order, and Padme had heard rumors that he was actually force sensitive, but the they had refused to train him. 

His complete devotion to the worst parts of this war wasn’t the only reason Padme disliked Bresean. They had meet two years ago, when Bresean was instated on the Senate, and he had spent every waking moment of their shared time, be it in chance meetings in the hallway or an intergalactic meeting of the Republic, trying to win her affections. She’d laughed it off at first- her relationship with Anakin was at its beginning, and they’d spend an evening or two drinking wine and reading messages from Bresean aloud. Then Anakin moved in with her. Then they got married. But Bresean never stopped, his advances only grew more tiresome. He operated under the philosophy of never taking no for an answer, and Padme suspected the only thing to make him back off was proof of her relationship with Anakin- which she couldn't reveal. She stopped reading his messages aloud with Anakin at night, and stopped talking about him entirely. She avoided Bresean at work as much as she could, and now he was here at the council meeting, one of the only people she could talk to who wasn’t in a fight with her. She sighed quietly, and made her way over to where he and Bail were standing. They exchanged a quick greeting just as Mace Windu began to speak:

“Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us in here. I must apologise for the music outside, I sat on a button and somehow made the stop button password protected. Rest assured, members of the crew are working on a solution.” Padme glanced at Bail, and suppressed a smirk- he was nearly purple in his attempt not to laugh. 

“We are now twelve hours’ travel from the planet Nannerth. Senator Amidala, we were hoping you could provide more information about this property we are about to occupy.”

“Rested, we hope you are. Understand the difficulties of last night, we do,” Yoda said.

All eyes were suddenly focused on Padme. She took a deep breath, in and out, and stood up straight. 

“Before I begin, I would like to ask the council why there are only three Republican Senators present; Senator Organa, Poystenn, and myself.”

“We did not feel their presence was necessary. The Jedi are quite capable of making decisions without the dithering of senators- no offense intended,” Windu said. 

“I do not find that answer satisfactory.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Bresean pull an incredulous look. “The senate was elected by the people we represent. We speak for the people. Who elected you, Master Windu?” 

“With  _ all _ due respect, Senator, the people you represent are not in this spacecraft. In fact, most of the civilians present are family to the senators  _ we _ rescued.” The emphasis of ‘we’ was not lost on Padme. 

“All the more reason for more senators to be present at this meeting, Master. The welfare and safety of their children and significant others are at stake, and with all due respect they deserve to have a say.” She stared directly into Windu’s eyes, unwavering. The kitchen was silent but the air practically crackled with tension. 

“A point, the Senator has,” Yoda said finally, and the room let out a collective sigh. Padme broke her intense gaze with Windu to look at the wizened Jedi. 

“Unjust, such a decision would be. Move we must.” 

“Thank you, Master Yoda,” Padme said loudly over the music as the occupants of the room began to file out of the double swinging doors. Bresean shook his head and followed Yoda, but Padme stood next to Bail as the rest of the Jedi exited. She watched Anakin walk past her, his head ducked so he didn’t have to look her in the eyes. She wanted to stop him, shake him, yell in his face  _ see! This is what I mean! This is what they do! _ But she simply turned to Bail, said, “Let’s go,” and went to follow the crowd. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited some things in the previous three chapters, mostly taking out notes for myself like "fuck you" and shit like that. I also changed some numbers for my own sake. I came very close to taking Yoda out of the story entirely because I hate hate hate writing in his voice, but overall I think I'm going to keep him in, mostly because it's a pain in the ass to edit him out at this point.

By the time the Jedi and three senators had exited the kitchen, the music had been turned down from its ear-blasting volume. It was still loud, but Padme figured you could actually have a conversation now without having to injure your throat. The Jedi had stopped in a clump, huddled around Windu and Yoda. Windu gave Padme a pointed look, as if to say _this is your mess now_. She could see what he meant- during their brief meeting in the kitchen, the occupants of the dining hall had nearly worked themselves into a frenzy. From where she was standing, Padme could see wailing babies, silent but worried older children, and adults trying to stay calm. Most worryingly, in the middle of the room, she spotted a group of Senators huddled together. She guessed they were building up the courage to storm the kitchen and demand a place at the table, as it were.

She walked over to an empty chair and stood on it, scanning the room over the heads of the crowd. At the adjacent wall, she spotted what she was looking for- a stage, made probably for dining entertainment. She jumped down from the chair and grabbed Bail’s arm, pulling him towards the stage. They climbed the stairs, and Padme ran across to a podium standing on the opposite end. She found what she was looking for- a microphone, and switched it on. She tapped her hand against it a few times, but nothing happened. She spent a few seconds fiddling with it before one of the waitstaff came over to help her. They spent a minute or two flipping various switches and adjusting dials before giving her a thumbs up.

By then, the people standing in the center of the room had stopped conspiring, and had mostly turned to look at Padme. She moved to the center of the stage, careful not to tread on the cord of the microphone, and motioned for Bail to join her.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” she said, and the mike squealed. The audience clapped their hands to their ears, and the staff member came jogging back to the stage. Padme took a step back.

“Sorry,” she said into the mike, this time with no distortion. She waved to the staffer, who stopped climbing the stairs, but sat at a table close to the stage.

“Sorry, everyone,” she said, addressing the crowd. “Thank you for joining us here today. For those who don’t know me, my name is Padme Amidala and I am the representative of Naboo. If I could ask you to take a seat, we can begin,” she gestured to the senators standing in the middle. The looks still on some of their faces still made her nervous, and she was suddenly aware of her bare feet, her bedraggled clothes, her unbrushed teeth, but they sat.

“Thank you. Now, incase some of you were unaware, we are on route to a planet named Nannerth. It is on the outer rim, and free of interference, Separatist or otherwise. I was informed by Master Windu that we are about twelve hours away from landing. I suggest we use this time to regroup and organize.”

“Why Nannerth?” someone shouted from the crowd. Bail quickly snagged the microphone from Padme’s grasp.

“Senator Amidala has graciously allowed us the use of her property on this planet,” he said. “We are lucky- I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t own land on a planet that does not have clone troopers stationed there.” There were murmurs of agreement from the crowd. Padme rescued the mike from Bail.

“Before we disembark, I would like to make a manifest of everyone on this ship, crew members included. I would also like to meet with all Senators, the captain of this ship, and members of the Jedi Council to discuss the logistics of our move to my property. We need volunteers to make a manifest, and others to take an assessment of the luggage we have on board.”

“Why did the clone troopers attack?” Another voice from the crowd yelled. Bail tugged on Padme’s arm, and she handed the mike back to him.

“As of right now, we don’t know.” Angry shouts erupted from the audience. “Please! Please.” Bail held up his hands and waited for quiet before speaking into the microphone again. “I know you’re angry. I know you’re hurt, and scared. We are too. But anger isn’t going to solve anything. We are being as transparent with you as possible, there is nothing we know that you don’t. Right now what we need to focus on is staying safe and staying alive.” He handed the microphone back to Padme.

“Before we end this meeting, I invite the Jedi Council to the stage- is there anything you want discussed, or any new information you have to offer?” She motioned to the bundle of Jedi standing in the corner. Windu refused to meet her eye, but Yoda shook his head slowly. “Okay, then. If the Jedi, senators, and any senior members of the crew would be so kind as to stay, everyone else, feel free to go back to your rooms.” The audience slowly started to get up, and a steady murmur rose again over the music. Padme moved to put the microphone back, but suddenly remembered:

“Oh, and if anyone would like to volunteer their time to help us organise the move, please stay! Thank you.” She put the microphone back on the podium, and the staffer who had helped her before moved back to the stage to turn it off. As they worked, they said:

“By the way Senator, my name is Drinnen Haren. You mentioned senior members of the crew- I am the second-in-command.” They finished with the mike, and stood up to face Padme and Bail.

“Pleased to meet you, Drinnen,” Padme said, extending her hand. “And thank you, for the use of your ship. I was in the last party to board last night, and I apologise for not coming to meet you sooner.”

“Not a problem, Senator. Actually, you’re the first person to thank me for the use of my- _our_ , ship. I doubt the captain noticed,” they snorted, “But the Jedi who commandeered this vessel have hardly given us the time of day.”

“I apologise again. I hope you will be willing to work with us despite the Jedi’s indiscretions.” She, Bail and Drinnen began walking off the stage to where the remaining senators had congregated.

“Well, it’s not like I didn’t want to get off planet,” Drinnen said. “We were only docked on Coruscant for a routine check- our company is based there. When the attacks started, we didn’t even realise what was happening until people were hammering on our doors. I’m just glad my family lives on the outer-rim.” They arrived at the tables, and Drinned stopped talking. Padme looked around and saw the Jedi were still standing near the kitchen. She frowned, and muttered _excuse me,_ to Bail before storming over.

“Master Yoda, you wanted to hold a meeting. We are holding a meeting. This is your formal invitation. If you do not join us, I will have no reason to believe that you and your Order have the best interests of the people in this ship in mind.”

“Senator Amidala, that is a strong accusation,” Mace Windu snapped. “I would tread lightly. Now is not the time to end alliances.”

“A strong accusation I have yet to make,” she retorted. “Now if you will excuse me, I have a meeting to run.” She turned, accidentally making eye contact with Anakin, and lifted her chin in defiance before stalking back to where Bail and Drinnen were standing.

Padme let Bail begin the meeting while she called up the blueprints and and map of her property on Nannerth. The group established a list of volunteers- Drinnen paired with a secretary to create a census, but not before choosing a woman from her crew to lead an expedition to inventory the ship. Bail lead a group of more athletic senators (there were not many) to organize the luggage. A handful of people crowded around Padme as she explained her ideas to utilize the mansion and surrounding farm to its best potential. She was surprised, but relieved, when she glanced up and saw Jedi scattered throughout the crowd- Anakin included.

* * *

 

It took them about four hours in total to complete their tasks. In the meantime, Padme had convinced the group to meet in a slightly smaller but significantly quieter room on the ship: the tennis court. It was large enough to drag in several long tables from the dining hall, over which she spread print-outs of maps, the census and inventory, and myriad other relevant papers.

Padme glanced at her phone for the time, which was still set to Coruscant time. She sighed, and sat up straight in the metal folding chair, rubbing her eyes.

“Drinnen,” she said to the first mate sitting beside her, “I think we are as prepared as we can be.”

“Not quite, Senator,” they said. They looked around at the people around them- most still pouring diligently over the papers, and lowered their voice. “Can I speak with you in private?”

Padme frowned. She knew that now she had to be more cautious than ever about who she trusted, but she couldn’t help herself with the first mate. Drinnen had proved themselves to be an invaluable resource, and they were more competent than the captain, who had spent the entire journey to Nannerth first drinking at the bar and then holed up in his quarters. She pushed her chair up and stood:

“Attention, please.” The room turned to look at her. “There are now eight hours left until we reach Nannerth. You all have done a wonderful job, and I feel there is nothing else we can do to prepare for our transition. Please, get something to eat, and some sleep if you can. Thank you.” She sat again, and everyone began to shuffle out. Padme and Drinnen remained at the table, piling the papers before them. In the crowd, Anakin passed her table and she thought she could see on his face that he wanted to say something to her, but she turned her eyes away. She also saw Bail looking at her and Drinnen curiously, but she shook her head slightly. She didn’t want anyone watching to think they had anything to hide. When the room was empty, Drinnen turned to Padme.

“I am worried about some of the members of the crew. I am certain that they might be Separatist sympathisers.”

Padme looked at them sharply.

“Are you sure? Which members?”

Drinnen retrieved a folded piece of paper from their pocket and handed it to Padme. She unfolded it and scanned the list- it was short, only five names.

“All of the people on this list have some connection to the Separatists. Three have family associated with the movement, the other two have had previous dealings with the Separatists one way or another. And no, I don’t have any evidence of these dealings. But my sources are reliable.”

Padme sat for a minute staring at the paper and lost in thought. There were only twenty crew members on board- their hasty departure had eliminated the members taking shore leave- meaning that the ship was running at low capacity. It also meant that one fourth of the crew was somehow connected to the Separatists. And they all knew where they were heading.

“Drinnen, thank you for trusting me with this information.” She leaned forward in her seat. “To be completely honest, I have had the same worry about the passengers. I don’t know all of the men and women that have boarded the ship, and any of them, the senators especially, could be Separatist spies.”

“Is there any way to investigate these fears now that we have a manifest, Senator?”

“Not until we reach Nannerth. I have access to a computer that syncs with my work data. Until then, we just have to hope for the best.”

She sat back in her chair and ran fingers through her hair.

“Hey, do you want to get a drink? I’d kill for one right about now”

The first mate looked surprised.

“I would be honored, Senator Amidala.”

Padme laughed.

“You don’t have to keep calling me that. Call me Padme.” She stood and stretched before finishing gathering the rest of her papers. Drinnen helped her, a small smile on their face.


	5. Chapter 5

After dropping the papers and plans in Padme’s suite(“Oh, this is nice than  _ my _ room,” Drinnen commented when they saw it), the two headed to the nearest bar. It was mercifully empty- Padme didn’t think she could stand tiptoeing around another human being at the moment- and soon the two were almost completely drunk.

“So the captain,” Drinnen slurred, “leads me on for months- almost a  _ year _ , okay? And then!” they leaned over the bar towards Padme, who was sitting across on a barstool, “After he drags my ass onto this godforsaken  _ cruise _ ship, convinces me to be his first mate, he ghosts me. Stops eating with me, stops doing our ‘secret little meetings’, stops commanding his bloody ship!” Padme made a noise of disbelief and took another sip of her drink. “Yeah,” they said, nodding. “I have to take control of this stupid thing, or he would have let us run into the nearest asteroid belt!”

“Wait, wait wait wait,” Padme said, “how long ago was that? How long have you been here?” 

“Three. Months.” Drinnen said, stoney-faced. “I’ve been trying to get out of here ever since, but I can’t afford to get back to my homeworld from any of the planets we’ve stopped at. I haven’t even talked to my family, because I had an enormous fight with them, spouting on about about ‘true love’ or whatever before running off with this dildo.” They took a large gulp of their drink and slammed the empty glass down on the counter. They were both quiet. Padme studied her drink, picking at the paper label. 

“Drinnen.”

“Hmm?” 

“Listen, if I tell you something, something important, can you promise to keep it a secret?” 

“Well, I’ve been ignored for the past three months by the man I thought would marry me, and I haven’t made any friends on this ship because every crew member thinks I got the job by sleeping with the captain, which I did, so I can’t blame them. Whatever you tell me, I don’t have anyone to blab to.” 

Padme sighed. 

“I don’t have many friends either. And the ones I do have, I can’t be completely honest with. Even Bail, he’s my best friend on the Senate, maybe in the whole world, and I can’t even tell him everything.” She looked up, and Drinnen was looking at her with a drunken intensity. 

“Did you know that the Jedi can’t have any attachments? I mean romantically, sexually, but they frown on having friends, or even keeping in contact with your family once you join the Order.”

“So all of those guys who stormed my ship and tried to take control of your land on Nannerth are virgins?” Drinnen laughed, and Padme managed a smile. 

“Um. All but one.” Drinnen choked on their drink.

“WHAT,” they yelled when they had stopped coughing. Padme shushed her frantically, searching the hallway for any sign of another person. There was no one there, but Drinnen repeated at a lower volume:

“What? Which one? Don’t tell me it’s that prick Mace Windu.”

“No, no, I secretly hate him. You can’t tell anyone else that, either.” 

“Roger roger,” they said with a giggly salute. “So, wait this is obviously an ongoing thing, or you wouldn’t be so torn up about not being able to tell your friends.” 

Padme blinked in surprise. Drinnen was incredibly intuitive, even when they were stone cold drunk. 

“You’re right, actually. This is the first time I’ve said it out loud, but I have been married for almost three years.”

“No shit. You have any kids?” 

“No.” 

“Well, if I were you,” Drinnen grabbed a bottle and began pouring into their cup again, “I would take the opportunity of our government being completely fucked to come out, as it were. You know? Fuck the Jedi Order, this is about you and yours, staying alive and being happy.” They had suddenly leaned in close again and was shaking their finger in Padme’s face. She pushed it out of the way, and reached behind them for another drink. 

“I wish we could, but I don’t know if he’s ever going to speak to me again.” 

“What? Why?”

“I kind of told him I blamed the Jedi Order for everything that happened. Not the attacks, of course. I think they’re stupid, and greedy for power, but I don’t think they’re evil.” Drinnen grabbed their bottle and glass and came around the bar to sit beside her. “But the problem is that he was rescued by the Jedi. They took him out of slavery when he was nine, and when we met years later he was completely enamored by them. They treat him terribly, but he just accepts it.” She took a swig of her drink and paused for a minute. There was a lump building in her throat. 

“We were the last people to board this ship, Obi-Wan-another Jedi- came to my apartment and got us out right before it was destroyed. Anakin told him where we were, so I guess you’re not the first person to know about us. We had a fight after the first meeting in the cockpit, told each other to go to hell, and now we have to live together in a house I bought for our anniversary.” Padme looked miserably at Drinnen. “I almost wish I hadn’t said anything at all, but I feel like if I hadn’t said something I would be going crazy right now.” She sniffed, and realised there were tears streaming down her face. 

“Sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “I don’t really get a chance to talk about this shit.” She was about to make an excuse to return to her room when she was suddenly enveloped by Drinnen’s arms. The two, emotionally and physically exhausted, and extremely drunk, cried in each other’s arms. When they broke apart, Padme hiccuping slightly, Drinnen wiped their eyes and sighed. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Padme replied with a wry laugh. “How long until we touch down?”

Drinnen looked at their watch. “Six hours,” they groaned. “Not enough time to sober up.”

Padme pushed back her barstool and stood up. “I’m going to pass out in my room for five hours and forty-five minutes.” She looked over. “Thank you, Drinnen. For listening.”

“Thank you, Padme, for everything.” They hesitated for a minute, then said: “Hey, can I find you a pair of shoes? I noticed when you were on the stage that you didn’t have any, and I felt weird pointing it out until now, after we cried together about shitty men. Wow. I am very drunk.” Padme laughed. 

“It’s okay. Are there any spare shoes? I would love something. I can’t remember if there are any at my house.”

“Shit, of course there are! There’s spare uniforms on board, shoes and shit. Shit.”

Drinnen stood, swayed, and pointed down the hallway. They started and Padme followed, giggling at their careful march in a straight line. Before long, they had reached a door marked ‘crew only’, and Drinnen clumsily punched in a code. Padme was amazed that they managed to remember all these codes even though they were both hammered. Inside the door was a large closet, filled to the brim with uniforms. Drinnen flicked on a light. 

“What’s your shoe size?” 

It took the pair a minute or two to find the shoes. When they emerged from the closet, a new pair of sturdy work boots snug on Padme’s feet, Padme looked up and gasped. She tried to turn around, but ran into Drinnen’s chest. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“That’s my husband! He’s walking over here!” Down the hallway, Anakin hadn’t noticed the two yet- he was frowning at his comm. Padme scrambled to stand behind Drinnen, her back to the hallway and facing the open closet. As he passed them, Anakin looked up to give Drinnen a nod, and in return they smiled sickly. He was almost gone when Padme hiccuped again, and his head jerked around to meet her stricken gaze. 

“Padme?” He stopped walking. 

“Hi.” She said quietly, and stepped out from behind Drinnen. 

“Do you want me to walk you to your room?” They muttered in her ear. Padme sighed. The offer was tempting, but…

“No, but thanks. I’ll see you in six hours, okay?” 

They exchanged goodnights, and Drinnen left for their room. Anakin took a few steps forward until they were just a few feet away. 

“Hi.”

“Hey.” 

“I’m glad you got some shoes,” he said, looking down.

“That was Drinnen, they got them for me.” He turned to look at their receding figure.

“Good to see you’re making friends during all of this,” he muttered. 

“Whatever.”

“Are you drunk right now?” she could feel him scrutinising her, and she blushed inadvertently. “You are. I can’t believe you. You’re going to be hungover when we land.” 

“Okay, goodnight then,” Padme said, and whirled around. She wasn’t quite sure where her room was, but she was pretty sure she could find her way back to the bar and from there to her room. Before she could walk more than a step, Anakin grabbed her arm. 

“Wait, I’m sorry.” She gave him a withering glare, and he let go. “Sorry. I don’t want to fight with you, okay?” Padme leaned against the wall and folded her arms. 

“What do you  _ want _ to do, then, Anakin? Talk about how drunk I am? Talk about how I shouldn’t be making friends? I’m tired. I want to go to sleep. You are keeping me from going to sleep for-” she checked her phone, now useless away from Coruscant, “five and a half hours.” 

“I just wanted to talk, okay? I wanted to tell you I was thinking about what you said last night.”

“Great.”

“Please, just, can we have a normal conversation? Can you listen without sniping at me?”

“Guess not,” Padme retorted, and turned away again. This time he didn’t try to stop her, but she could feel his eyes burning into her back. She shook it off, and made it back to the bar. She was tempted to grab another drink, but instead painstakingly made her back back to her room. Inside, she collapsed on the bed, much like the night before, not bothering to take off her shoes. She passed out instantly, sleeping for exactly five hours and twenty-seven minutes, before a loud knocking came on her door, and she started awake. 


	6. Chapter 6

Padme blearily opened her eyes and sat up. Her head pounded, and she staggered to the bathroom to vomit in the toilet. The knocking at the door came again, and she shouted “I’m coming!” before flicking on the light in the bathroom. It was too bright, and she quickly turned it off. She rinsed out her mouth and then brushed her teeth in the dark. She left the bathroom, gathering her hair back into a tidy bun. She was still wearing the boots Drinnen had found, along with two-day-old clothes.

Bail and Obi-Wan were at the door. Obi-Wan had clearly been the one banging on the door, Bail looked just about as good as Padme felt. 

“We’re landing,” Obi-Wan said briefly, before striding off in the direction of the entrance to the ship. Bail turned to Padme. 

“I guess you had a little too much to drink too, huh?” he said. 

“More like too much,” Padme rasped. 

“Here, I have some water and painkillers in my bag.” He reached over his shoulder and dug out a bottle and a tiny canister of pills. They started off after Obi-Wan, and Padme chugged the water as they walked. 

“So, were you drinking because of nerves, to pass the time, or to drown your sorrows?” 

“Sorrows,” She grunted. 

“Because of the fight you had with General Skywalker?” Padme stopped short. “Oh, sorry. Was I not supposed to know?” He stopped too, and looked at her.

“I didn’t want anyone to know, Bail!”

“You kind of shouted at each other for a long time, you know. And I’m not stupid, I know you came from the same apartment.” Padme could feel her face burning.

“Do you think anyone else noticed?” 

“Probably. But don’t worry about it, that wasn’t the weirdest thing that happened last night.” He hesitated for a second. “Hey, look, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I kind of guessed, before, anyway. I won’t tell anyone, okay?” 

“Okay.” They started walking again. “Sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

“Oh, my feelings were only slightly hurt,” he said graciously. 

“Well, the next time I get married to someone who isn’t supposed to fall in love, you’ll be the first to know.” She stopped talking as they turned the corner of the hallway. They had reached the edge of the crowd of passengers huddled anxiously around the doors of the ship. 

“Have we touched down yet?” Padme asked Bail as they began to make their way to the front of the crowd. 

“We’re about to. I wish we weren’t all standing in this hallway,” he said, looking around at the crowd. “If it’s a bumpy landing, people are going to be tossed about.”

Standing at the front of the hallway near the doors, they found Obi-Wan, along with an exhausted-looking Drinnen, the lead volunteers organizing the move, and Mace Windu.

“Obi-Wan, is this safe?” Padme shouted over the crowd behind them that was growing louder with anticipation. 

“It’s not,” Drinnen said. “But who wants to listen to me? I’m just the first mate.” Padme gave them a look- now was not the time to be snarky, especially in front of Windu. 

“Do we have time to move everyone?” Bail asked. 

“We don’t. I’m in communication with the pilots, and they are starting the landing process in three… two…” There was a jolt that cut Drinnen off. There were a few screams, and a couple of the older people in the crowd collapsed. Padme herself nearly fell over, but Bail caught her, grimacing at the increased noise behind them. 

“We can’t open the doors with all these people here,” he shouted at her. “This completely undermines the exit strategy we came up with yesterday. Who’s idea was this?” He bawled at Drinnen. They pointed to Windu. 

_ Of course, _ Padme thought. She shouted at Bail, “don’t let him open the door!” and moved towards the volunteers, swaying with the ship as it descended. 

“We need to get these people out of here when the ship lands. Where is the most helpful place for them to be?” 

“We have the dining hall set up for them to stay until the grounds are ready,” one of the volunteers said. “They should all know what group they’re in, but there’s people waiting to help them.” She leaned in to speak as quietly as she could in Padme’s ear. “We started out there, I swear. The Jedi made us move.” Padme cast a sharp look in Windu’s direction. She addressed the rest of the volunteers:

“Once the ship lands, I need everyone’s help to get the rest of the passengers back to the dining hall. I’m guessing there are going to be injuries in this crush, so those who tended to wounds the other night, please be ready to help. Once everyone is back in the hall, please proceed with the plans we made yesterday.” 

It took the pilots ten more minutes to land the ship, during which the crowd’s hysteria grew more and more. Padme rubbed her temples. It felt like there was a poker driven through her skull, and it took everything she had not to throw up again. But the pilots finally landed, and her volunteers immediately sprang into action. As they began to herd the crowd back down the hallway, Padme stormed up to Mace Windu and seized his robes. 

“What  the hell were you thinking?” She demanded. “People might be dead! We had a plan, what the fuck happened?” 

“Unhand me!” he shouted. “No one informed me of this plan. You were nowhere to be seen, so I took initiative.” He pushed her away, and she stumbled, hard.

“Bull _ shit _ you didn’t know what the plan was,” she spat. “I was nowhere to be seen because I trust the people who volunteered. You don’t get to decide what happens to these people. You need to get your shit together, or you can get the hell off of my property.” She turned and began stomping through the crowd. She reached the bend in the hallway. The passengers were being directed to the right, back towards the dining hall, so she continued on straight. Behind her she heard someone shout her name, but she kept walking until she reached a trash can, into which she vomited again. When she was done, she spat into the can, leaned her shoulder against the wall and closed her eyes. Her knees were weak, but her head oddly felt better. 

“Padme,” the voice said again, and a hand touched her shoulder. 

“Don’t touch me,” she croaked. She put her back to the wall, and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. 

“Sorry,” the voice said, and this time she recognized it as Anakin’s. She groaned quietly. There was a shuffling sound and she guessed he had sat down next to her. 

“I saw him push you.” he said quietly. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” There was something to his voice that made her open her eyes, and she saw that he was struggling to hold back tears. She didn’t say anything, just looked at him. After a minute she reached out a hand and gently touched his. 

“You okay?” 

He sniffed a couple times, and wiped his eyes. 

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Padme was suddenly very tired. She felt every minute that had gone by since she had woken up in bed at her apartment, every second added another weight to her shoulders. She felt she could have sat like that forever, but Anakin clambered to his feet and offered her a hand. She took it, and he pulled her up. 

“Where did you end up on the volunteer list?” She asked. 

“Luggage. I know where the storage space is, so.” he shrugged. They started walking back to the entrance of the ship, where the first group of volunteers had gathered. The two split apart when they reached the group, but Padme didn’t feel like they were seperated, somehow. She joined Drinnen, Bail, and Obi-Wan at the entrance of the airlock. Behind them, the two or three leaders began giving out instructions. 

“Senator Amidala, I want to apologise for Master Windu’s behavior,” Obi-Wan said as they turned to face the doors. “His behaviour does not reflect the feelings of most of the Jedi Order on this ship.”

“Thank you, Master Kenobi,” she said. “I can only hope that we have the support of the Jedi Order- I know there are good people working with you.” 

“Likewise, Senator.”

An alarm sounded, and the airlock doors unlocked. The hydraulics hissed open, and they stepped through to take in Nannerth. 


	7. Chapter 7

It was nighttime on Nannerth. Beside Padme, Drinnen reached into their pocket and pulled out a flashlight. They used it to do a quick sweep of the landing site the planners had chosen. There was actually a landing site in town which Padme and Anakin used when they traveled to Nannerth, but Padme decided it would be too conspicuous to land an entire cruise ship in the small town, not to mention the transport they would have to hire to bring all of the refugees and their luggage. 

Part of the reason why they’d had such a bumpy landing is that Padme had had the pilots turn off most of the lights on the outside of the ship- it was dangerous to be sure, but Drinnen had been confident in their pilot’s abilities. The other reason was that the landing site they’d chosen was actually in the middle of the woods surrounding Padme’s house. There was a clearing in the middle that had been just big enough to fit the ship, but as Drinnen swung their flashlight back and forth Padme saw that they had crushed a few of the trees in their descent. She sighed, and started down the ramp. There was no time to worry about the damage to her property: she had to get to the house and alert the staff of their arrival. 

The day before she had outlined a small profile of each person in her employ. There was the groundskeeper and his wife, Cade and Bria, who lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of the woods. They were the first people Padme hoped to talk to. East of the house was a small farm that employed a family of five- Deliah, her wife Noreth, and their three children. They maintained the farm, which boasted over fifty acres of farmland, as well as various livestock. The house itself housed only four people: a cook, two housekeepers, and Deja, the steward of the estate. Before Padme had purchased the property, she performed extensive background checks on Deja and the rest of the staff. None of them had any ties to the Republic or the Separatists, and none of them cared or even knew much about the Clone Wars. After an interview with the previous owner, she’d gathered that this sentiment held true for most of the people in Eldreth, the nearby town, and even for most of Nannerth. 

As she strode through the woods, eyes focused on the lights in the distance she knew to be Cade’s house, she was thinking about her encounter with Anakin. He’d been genuinely worried about her, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still angry from their argument. At any rate, she wasn’t sure she was ready to be with him until he recognized the danger the Jedi had created for the Republic. But that didn’t mean she didn’t miss him. Padme was walking several strides before the rest of the group, and she allowed herself a shaky sigh. Her breath fogged in the air before her. Above, stars twinkled in a cloudless sky in strange, alien constellations. The woods seemed endless, black trees surrounding her with an open, hungry maw. She shivered. They were almost there. They were almost safe. 

The rest of group reached the groundskeeper’s house only a few seconds after Padme had knocked on the door, and they were all present to greet Bria when she opened the door. They stayed on the doorstep while inside, Padme explained the situation: there was a large group of people on a ship in the woods, all in danger of being killed, and who all needed to be moved to Padme’s house as quickly as possible. Cade was up and pulling on his boots in an instant, but before he could open the door Padme caught him by the shoulder. 

“Cade, there’s one more thing. You can’t mention that you know my husband.” He stared at her for a minute, confused, before shaking his head. 

“You’re the boss, Ms Amidala.” 

They stepped back outside and Padme made a short introduction to the group. They set off across the huge lawn for the house. The only lights on in the house were in the kitchen and the servant’s quarters, both facing the woods from which they were emerging. The group entered through the back door, which Cade unlocked with a key from a large ring he pulled from his pocket. Padme led them through to a small hallway that ended in a closed door. They could smell something delicious through the door, and the warmth of the house began to thaw them from their walk through the woods. Padme motioned for the group to stay put as she and Cade went into the kitchen. 

Inside, she found the cook, Joanne, and one of the housekeepers, Mat. They were chatting as Joanne stirred something on the stovetop. They stopped when Padme and Cade walked through the door. 

“Ms Amidala! By the stars, did you say you were coming?” Joanne put down her spoon and wiped her hands on her apron. 

“No, I didn’t. Listen, we don’t have much time. Where’s Deja and Fenrir?”

“They’re upstairs in Deja’s room. We couldn’t sleep because of the noise, so Joanne said she’d make me some soup,” Mat rolled his eyes. Joanne smacked them. Padme sighed. 

“Deja had better not break her heart. Joanne, would you please call them both? And is Deliah on the farmstead?”

“Yes ma’am, right away ma’am. Do you want Deliah here, too?” Joanne hurried to the other door exiting the kitchen.”

“Yes, please. Wait, Joanne, please tell everyone- you cannot mention to anyone that  you meet tonight that you know my husband, or that we’re married. This is extremely important” She nodded, and closed the door behind her.

“Deja says it’s the real deal this time. But that’s what they said about the girl in town, and the girl they met on the ‘net, and the girl they met at the fair.” Mat stood up and took a sip of the soup simmering on the stove. “Why are you pretending you aren’t married?”

“Shhhhh!” Padme said, waving her arms. “I’ll explain later, please just play along.” She opened the door leading back to the hallway and beckoned the others into the kitchen.

Anakin, Drinnen, Obi-Wan, and three volunteers filed into the room. They hovered awkwardly around the back of the room. Mat surveyed them cooly, and took another sip of the soup. He made eye contact with Anakin, and winked. Padme pressed her hands to her face. This was swiftly going to become a disaster. Just then, Joanne burst back into the room. Following her closely was Deja and Fenrir, both in various states of undress. Joanne grabbed a heavy coat that was hanging on a hook behind the door and threw it at Fenrir, who instantly wrapped it around herself, blushing. Deja strode across the room, the buttons of her shirt undone, revealing a slim frame clad in a white undershirt, and threw both pairs of arms around Padme. They two embraced for a minute, before Padme broke away. 

“Padme, you should have told us you were coming! Especially since you’re bringing guests, we don’t have anything prepared.” They glanced at the group standing at the door, shooting a hard stare at Anakin. 

“This is nothing compared to what we have in the woods,” Padme said with a shaky laugh. She wiped her hands quickly across her eyes and turned to Joanne. “Is Deliah on her way?” 

“I sent her a ping, she’s likely not to see it for a few hours when she wakes up. The farm is a mile away, but I can send Mat down if you want.”

“Hey!” He protested. Padme ignored him.

“No, we don’t need anything from the farm until it’s operational, anyway.” She took a deep breath. “I suppose I should start by telling you I am a senator of the Republic. I represent the planet Naboo. I never told any of you because when I came to Nannerth it was to escape my life as a senator. It’s only a important detail because I need you to understand the seriousness of the situation we’re in. You all know, of course, of the clone army?” They nodded. “It seems that they have been compromised. There were and still are, I suppose, attacks on senators such as myself, Republic fighters, the Jedi, and even civilians.” Deja’s merry face hardened, Joanne gasped, and Mat and Fenrir exchanged dark glances. “We don’t know who ordered these attacks. Myself and a number of people fled the planet Coruscant with no course of action. I suggested we come here to stay safe, since Nannerth is on the Outer Rim, and no one else knows I own land here. In the woods, we have a cruise ship carrying 146 refugees that we need to house here for an indefinite amount of time.

“With me now is Drinnen, the first mate and acting commander of the cruise ship.” Drinnen nodded. “Masters Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, of the Jedi Order,” Mat smirked and Padme scowled at him, “and Senators Smathe, Langer, and Moss. They’re leaders of a group of volunteers to asses the house.”

“What can we do to help?” Deja asked. Senator Smathe stepped forward. 

“As Senator Amidala said, we have 146 people on board. Myself and the other volunteers have been tasked with fitting them all on the premises. We had access to the blueprints of this house, so right now our task is to prepare the house for its occupants. I have here” he held up a sheath of papers, “a census of the ship, along with a map and where we plan to place everyone. We worked carefully to make sure no one was more crowded than necessary.” He handed the papers to Deja. “There are teams aboard the ship with mattresses and bedding. When you say the word, they can be here in just a few minutes. We were lucky to find dollies on board.”

“Well, unless there’s anything you think we can do to prepare, we should start immediately,” Deja said. 

“Excellent.” Smathe pulled a comm out of his pocket and spoke into it. “Transports out, repeat, transports out.” 

“Roger roger,” a voice crackled back. 

“Padme, this may be a stupid question, but why can’t you house people on the ship?” Drinnen asked. “It clearly has more space than your house, and you’ve even landed within walking distance of your house.”

“That was actually our first thought,” she said. “But Drinnen pointed out that even out here on the Outer Rim, a cruise ship clearly not on a cruise would be cause for investigation, especially since clones saw us escape on this ship. There of course remains the problem of how to dispose of it, but I know there’s an active black market for good parts in this system, so it’s just a matter of finding the right buyer.” Actually, Padme hadn’t known this when she’d first come to Nannerth. It was something Anakin had noticed on one of their trips to Eldreth. 

“We took inventory of everything of value on the ship- I think that’s also included in those papers.” Drinnen nodded at the pile Deja held in their hand. “We decided to leave the several hundred party hats and balloons, though. Didn’t really think they’d come in handy.” Deja laughed. 

“You never know, though. Padme, isn’t your anniver-” Padme shot a deathly glare at them. “I mean, um,” a knock came at the back door. Cade went to answer it. He returned a moment later. 

“Ms. Amidala, the folks around back say they can’t fit the transports through the door. I took a look and they should fit through the garage, though. I think we can get them in through the house that way.” 

“Okay, Cade please lead the transports to the garage. Joanne, take everyone else to the entrance to the garage so you can help them move the supplies inside the house.” They all began to move but Deja. They stayed leaning against the kitchen table, all four arms now folded across their chest. Drinnen was the last one to leave, and they shot Padme a sympathetic look before following the group. Once they had closed the door behind them, Deja sighed, and rested two of their arms down on the table behind them. 

“Deja.” Padme said wearily. 

“Padme.” They replied. Padme spread her arms in a helpless gesture. 

“What do you want me to say.”

“I want to know what’s wrong with you and Anakin. I want to know why you didn’t tell us you were a senator. Fuck, Padme, I want to know why the two of you can’t even look at each other.”

“This isn’t a great time to get into it.”

“When would be a great time for you? When the house is stuffed to the gills with people? When the clone army has found us and shot us all to pieces?” Deja scoffed. “A great time to tell me that you were a senator would have been day one, but that ship had sailed, my dear.”

“Jedi aren’t supposed to get married, okay?” Padme shouted. “They aren’t supposed to fall in love. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was a senator, but we just wanted a place where we could feel like a normal couple. The less you knew about my life on Coruscant the better. I’m sorry.” 

Deja stared at the floor. Padme stared at a spot on the ceiling above their head. She was so tired. The pain meds Bail had given her were starting to wear off, and her head was beginning to pound again.

“So no one else knows you two are married?” Padme laughed. 

“No, that kind of got thrown out the window when my apartment was blown up. Obi-Wan knows, that other Jedi. Drinnen, the first mate knows. We kind of got drunk together, and I spilled it. My friend, Bail. You’ll meet him later. You might like him, actually. But we don’t want anyone else to know, okay?” She looked into Deja’s eyes. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to everyone, but I am certain that if the Jedi Order learned of this, they would somehow use it against us. I’m barely keeping them in check as it is.”

Deja unfolded their arms and swiveled a chair around to face Padme, then took a seat. 

“I understand why you didn’t tell me, I think. My feelings are still hurt, but I can see you had good intentions. But what are you two fighting about?”

Padme must have looked startled, because Deja rolled their eyes. 

“Come on, you two haven’t looked at each other the entire time you were in this room. I have to imagine it was on purpose, you exchanged glances with everyone else here. And don’t forget, I have an empathic ancestry. I get a feel for certain people, and I’ve always been able to read you, at least a little bit. You had a fight with him, and you’re still angry about it. Although, you seem to be harbouring some feelings of regret?” They trailed off in a questioning tone of voice. Padme let out a quick sigh. 

“We had a fight the first night on the ship. I insinuated the Jedi had sent the war spiraling out of control, that they were the ones that had lost control of the clone army, and I flat out told Anakin they had been manipulating him since he had been taken in by them. He disagreed.” Tears sparked in her eyes again, and she wiped them away angrily. “Deja, I don’t want to fight with him anymore. I’m sick of it, and I miss him. But if he can’t realise what hand the Jedi have played in this stupid, endless war, I don’t know if I can go back to that.”

“Have you talked to him about this?” 

“He tried to talk to me, but I was drunk and basically told him to fuck off.”

“Oof.” Deja rose and crossed the room to carefully put to pairs of arms around her. Padme closed her eyes and relaxed into the embrace. “Padme, you’re going to have to talk to him. Sooner, rather than later. I can’t have you two fighting around me.”

“I know, but how?” Padme mumbled. “Like you said, this place is going to be a little crowded. 

“Maybe the two of you can meet down at Deliah’s farm. You know, she even has a spare room for guests. You could, you know, make up there.”

Padme broke off from the hug and elbowed Deja, scowling. They just smirked.

“I don’t think I want to talk to him right away. Don’t set anything up, okay? I’ll figure something out.” 

“Okay, I promise. But I’m going to make sure that spare room is kept empty. You need a place to yourself away from the rest of this mess.” 

Padme turned and opened the back door.

“Don’t. Let Deliah keep it. She and Noreth need their privacy, and I worry that if I’m not here constantly, the Jedi would organise an uprising.” Deja moved to follow her.

“Maybe. Nothing like a civil war in the middle of another war, right?” Padme laughed grimly.

“Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i changed some numbers around because if i didn't i was going to lose my mind. when i got to chapter six, i realised i didn't really have a plan for how to advance the story, so i'm working on an outline as i write ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. hopefully we can get some angst going soon.


	8. Chapter 8

It took them an hour to unpack the dollies full of bedding, and then another hour to bring over and sort out the luggage. The volunteers have done a good job figuring out which bags belonged to each person, and when the first group of passengers had finally come over, the operation was running smoothly, and it only took them a half hour to reunite each person with their luggage. Padme’s staff had worked hard to ensure each room was presentable, and by the time all of the passengers had made the trip to the house they were running back and forth making sure each person was well and accounted for. She was proud of them, in between running around the house herself, chasing various items for the exhausted crowd. At one point, she found herself facing the same linen closet as Anakin. 

“Hi,” he said breathlessly. 

“Hi,” she returned. 

“Just, running some errands,” he said, gesturing with a pillowcase. “I know where everything is.”

“Just don’t let Windu see you,” she said, grabbing an armful at random, and took off. Drinnen’s words from the night before suddenly echoed through her head:  _ Fuck the Jedi Order, this is about you and yours, staying alive and being happy.  _ She shook her head.  _ But maybe they’re right. The whole galaxy  _ has _ gone to hell.  _ She imagined living on Deliah’s farm with Anakin. The Jedi could have her house, she wouldn't care. They could run the place into the ground. 

“No,” she said aloud. A handful of people passing her looked up, startled, and she blushed. No. She couldn’t let the Jedi ruin this. They had all worked too hard to make sure the people were safe. And besides, she and Anakin were still fighting. Sort of. She let out a gusty sigh, and walked a little faster. 

Later that evening, Padme found herself collapsed on a couch in a sitting room on the second floor. It as crowded: there were several mattresses on the floor, and suitcases piled higher than her head. But no one in the room was asking her for anything, no one needed anything. They had begun to settle down, and some were even turning in. She closed her eyes for a moment. She didn’t know where she had been assigned to sleep, but she was certain that given a moment in the relative quiet, she could pass out on the couch. She sat there for a few minutes, feeling her body slow down and relax, when someone tapped her shoulder. Her eyes whipped open. 

“Hey, don’t fall asleep yet.” It was Bail. He was leaning over the back of the couch, smiling at her. 

“Mmm, why not?” She stretched, and sat up. 

“I have something to show you. Come on.” He tilted his head, and she slowly stood up to follow him.

When they were safely out of the sitting room and climbing the second staircase, he leaned in closely as they walked and said in a conspiratorial whisper:

“We have a surprise for you. The other volunteers and I decided you should have your own room.”

“Bail, no!” She stopped walking. 

“Shhh! What?” he said. 

“I don’t want to take up valuable space.”

“Oh, believe me, it's not valuable space.” He started walking again, and after a brief hesitation, she followed again. “On the fourth floor, tucked into the very back of the extremely large attic, we found an old servant’s room. It’s about as big as a closet. There’s only room for a bed and a small sink.” Padme’s heart lifted at the word ‘sink’. She was beginning to smell herself at this point, and it was not a pleasant smell. “It would only have fit one person anyway, and since you’ve been ejected from your own very nice bedroom, we figured the least we could do was give you a space to yourself.”

“Thank you, Bail,” Padme said quietly. There was a lump in her throat. 

“Ah, don’t thank me yet. We haven’t figured out how to turn the heating on up there yet. It’s very cold.” They were passing the staff’s rooms at this point, and came across Fenrir who was struggling to open the door to her room. She was holding a large tray with an assortment of finger foods, but she stopped when she saw Bail and Padme approaching. 

“Hi, Fenrir, right?” Bail asked. 

“Yes,” she squeaked. She glanced at Padme, blushing furiously. 

“Here, let me help you with that,” Bail said, and reached across to open the door for her.

“Goodnight, Fenrir, and tell Deja I said hello,” Padme said with a grin. Fenrir ducked her head, but Padme could see a small smile on her face. 

“Goodnight, ma’am.” She closed the door. Bail and Padme set off again.

“She’s with Deja, eh?” Bail said. “I liked that one. They were very funny. Very in charge.” They reached another door, which Padme knew lead to an attic. She didn’t spend much time on this floor, and didn’t remember the room Bail was describing from the house tour when she bought it. Bail opened the door and led her through the dark attic to the back corner, where she could the silhouette of a door with a light behind it. She have Bail a quick hug, and went to open the door. 

Inside, she saw a bed, a small table in the center of the room, a sink over which hung a window in the corner, and her luggage piled all around. She also saw Anakin sitting on the bed, picking nervously at the blanket. He looked up. She slammed the door shut. 

“Shit, Padme, I didn’t know he was in there,” Bail said, dragging a hand down his face. Padme put her face in her hands and groaned. “Okay, I can go in there and kick him out. Kick his ass, too. He has a place to sleep. Just, go over there,” he pointed to a pile of old furniture, “and don’t let him see you.” 

Padme didn’t even think about it, she just said “okay”, and crouched behind the pile Bail had pointed out. She watched as Bail opened the door and took a slow step inside. He didn’t close it, but left it ajar so a beam of light shone through the dark attic. She knew he was serious in his threat to fight Anakin- Bail towered over them both, and he was built like a rock. Her ears picked up a quiet conversation, and she strained to listen.

“What the hell are you doing here?” this was Bail. She couldn’t hear Anakin’s reply, but Bail said “well, she doesn’t want to talk.” This time, she heard Anakin’s voice:

“What are  _ you _ doing? Why are you butting into this?”

“I’m being a good friend, that’s what I’m doing. Now you are going to come downstairs with me, and you are going to stay in your assigned room until tomorrow when we meet with Deliah and her wife.”

“The hell I am.” Something slammed against the wall, and Padme threw her hands on her mouth to stop her gasp from escaping. Bail’s voice, level, carried out of the room.

“Anakin, I don’t have the time nor the patience to deal with this bullshit. You can talk to Padme tomorrow when she’s not about to pass out from exhaustion. You can come with me now, quietly, or I can drag you out of here unconscious.” Padme could feel the tension radiating from the room, but she couldn’t see anything. She stayed frozen, crouched behind a dusty tarp, staring at the wall until she heard Anakin mutter “fine”, and her breath released. 

The door opened all the way now, and Anakin stepped out, a dark scowl on his face. Bail followed him closely, his face expressionless. He glanced in Padme’s direction, but continued walking behind Anakin as they exited the attic. The door shut behind them with a definite thud. Padme slowly stood up. She was covered in dust. She let out a long, trembling breath, and walked into her room. 

This time, before she went to bed, she was able to give herself a sponge bath with frigid water, but she felt better with the grime of the last few days gone from her skin. She wrapped herself in the blanket while she dug through the suitcases on the floor for a pair of warm pajamas. She ended up with a pair of old sweatpants and a sweater she knew was Anakin’s. All the while, she was chewing over what happened in her mind. Hadn’t she been ready to forgive him? She’d almost said so to Deja. Padme missed him, and she was sick of fighting with him. Throwing him out of her bedroom, especially when he had seen her open the door, and  _ knew _ she had asked Bail to eject him, now just seemed like fanning the flames. 

But she didn’t want to have a serious conversation with him because he had decided it was a good time. She’d told Deja that they shouldn’t set up a “chance meeting”, and she stood by that. She wanted to talk to Anakin, but she wanted to talk to him on her terms. Or at least on a full night’s sleep. Padme climbed into the bed, which was much higher up than she would have thought, and stretched the blanket over her. Bail was right- there was no heat in the room. She sighed, shivered, and reached over to switch off the lamp that was resting on the bedside table. The window shade had been drawn when she’d entered the room, and so it was completely pitch black. No moonlight streaming in on the ceiling, no twisting shadows playing on the walls. Eventually her mind began to quiet, no longer rehashing every conversation she’d had in the past few days, and she began to drift off. 

  
  



End file.
